The options of Active Desktop can be accessed from Display icon in Control Panel and right-click menu on Desktop.

This setting can remove options to configure “Active Desktop”. The “Web” tab, where the “Active Desktop” settings can be configured, is removed from the “Desktop Items” window. The “Desktop Items” window is called by clicking “Customize Desktop” button inside “Desktop” tab of “Control Panel > Display” system icon.

For this, go to “Start > Run” menu, enter “regedit” and navigate to the registry path listed below. If the subkey “\Explorer” does not exist, create it as explained below. Then, create a Dword value “NoActiveDesktop” in the right panel.

Now, right-click and modify its value to “1” which can prevent change to “Active Desktop” settings. However, if you want to get back the missing options, change the value to “0”.

The changes take effect after a restart or logoff.

NOTE:In Windows 2000, the “Web” tab can be accessed straight away inside “Display” system icon in Control Panel.

Users can change the positions of icons and place them anywhere on the desktop. Windows saves such settings even when the user logs off or restarts the system. This setting can let you disable such feature.